- Email: [email protected]
Study on the Industrialization of Servicing of Solar Water Heaters
Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
Energy Procedia 5 (2011) 513–519
IACEED2010
Study on the Industrialization of Servicing of Solar Water Heaters LI Xina*, LIU Weiguo b a,b
Economic and Management College, Beijing Institute of Petrochemical Technology, P.R.China, 102617
Abstract With the booming of the solar water heater industry, the problems of the service of solar water heaters have distinctly emerged and seriously curbed the development of the solar water heater industry. These problems can be solved effectively by establishing a complete solar water heater service industry and integrating the advantages of the mutually independent service modes and service organizations. This paper first defines the study of the solar water heater service industry and then studies the driving factors and functions of the service industrialization of solar water heaters.
© 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of RIUDS. Key words: Solar water heater, service, service industrialization
1. Introducti on With the booming of the solar water heater industry, the problems of the service of solar water heaters have distinctly emerged and seriously curbed the development of the solar water heater industry. On the one hand, there are many solar product manufacturers, and these solar product manufacturers di ffer in the investment scales of fund, technology, service network construction, etc., resulting in different service quality as well as product market disorder, nonstandard installation, serious delay of after-sales service; and on the other hand, the mutually crossing and self-contained service networks of the manufacturers have caused an overall resource waste. Besides, government or public institutions have made huge investments in the construction of solar energy projects but small investments in the follow-up
*Corresponding author: T el:+86 13391706187 E-mail address:[email protected]
1876–6102 © 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. doi:10.1016/j.egypro.2011.03.089
514
Li Xin and Liu Weiguo / Energy Procedia 5 (2011) 513–519
management and service. As a result, timely and perfect maintenance is unavailable for the solar energy products in a lot of projects, making a lot of solar energy projects just some image projects and fail to realize the expected effects. These problems can be solved effect ively by establishing a co mplete solar water heater service industry and integrating the advantages of the mutually independent service modes and service organizations.1 2. Problems of the service of solar water heaters 2.1Contradiction in the distribution of service resources Firstly, viewed fro m single manufacturers, they keep inputting resources into production in a bid to enlarge their production scales, obtain a scale effect and improve their market shares. However, the resources owned by each manufacturer are limited. The more the resources the manufacturer inputs into one aspect, the less that into other aspects will be. As a result, most of manufacturers do not have enough resources to be input into service. The solar water heaters are more and more advanced and the industry scale is larger and larger, but the service level is relatively lower and lo wer. Secondly, viewed fro m the entire industry, each solar water heater manufacturer inputs some resources into its service an d has its own marketing and service network, and the service networks of solar water heater manufacturers have the basically same ranges and regions of service and provide services for their o wn products only, thus resulting in a waste of such sources as fund, manpower and t ime. Th irdly, to gain a better co mpetition advantage, each manufacturer t ries to enlarge its service range blindly, resulting in a cutthroat competition between manufacturers and some damages to the benefits of all manufacturers. 2.2 Lack of professional and talented service personnel In the solar water heater industry there are neither institutions engaged in trainings for the service personnel of solar water heaters nor qualificat ion certification systems for the said service personnel. Besides, there are no sciences or majors about solar energy in colleges and universities. The existing technicians of solar energy product manufacturers are almost transferred fro m other industries. As a result, in various human resources in a manufacturer, the operating and managing personnel take a very large proportion and the engineers and technicians are not enough. The emp loyees of the enterprises engaged in the sales and service of solar energy products have different quality. Even the service pers onnel of the different distributors or service providers of the same manufacturer have this phenomenon. An important factor of the solar energy industry is to train some professional and talented service personnel and implement. 2.3 Lack of standardized service standards Since 1991, so me standards about solar water heaters have been established, including two basic standards, four inspection standards, three product standards and one industrial standard. The standards and the inspection and certification systems of the solar water heater industry are becoming more and more perfect, but there are no corresponding national standards for the installation and other services of solar water heaters. As a result, there are no standards for measuring the installatio n and other services of the solar water heaters provided by enterprises. In this circu mstance, even if the product quality is ensured, the nonstandard installation or other services will result in easy accessory damages and shorter lives of products and easy occurrence of conflicts between enterprises and users.
Li Xin and Liu Weiguo / Energy Procedia 5 (2011) 513–519
Solar water heaters are actually so me semi-finished products, and they will not beco me real finished products until they are effectively installed. The services for solar water heaters should inclu de the technical train ings before sales, the customized ind ividualized design, product package and introduction to the basic maintenance methods of products in sales, and the product installation and maintenance after sales. At present, solar water heater manufacturers focus on after-sales service only and neglect the significance of the services before and in sales; they attach importance to passive services only and have deficient active services; and they provide popular services only and have no standardized and individualized services. 2.4 Lack of service guidance policies With the perfection of the law and regulat ion system and the incentive policies about renewable energy, the entire society has begun to develop and utilize renewable energy act ively, the solar energy industry has started to take a rapid development and a lot of large-sized solar water heater manufacturers have emerged. Ho wever, the lack of standardized laws and regulations of the state has resulted in a lo w market access to the solar water heater industry in the following aspect: The production of solar water heaters has a small equip ment investment, a low technical content and a flexible production scale. So me small -sized solar water heater manufacturers have deficient funds and cannot establish complete service networks or even cannot provide complete services, resulting in disorderly product services on the solar water heater market.The fundamental way to solve the service problems of solar water heaters is to realize service industrialization for solar water heaters. 3. Driving factors of the service industrialization of solar water heaters 3.1 Connotation of the service industrialization of solar water heaters The solar water heater service industry is defined in this paper as follows: As a kind of operating activity, the service of solar water heaters should be guided by the market; be benefited centered and form a production and operation service system integrating scientific research service, production service and sales service. It has the advantages of investment marketization, production specialization, product commercialization, management demutualizat ion, service socialization and large -scale development and forms a new social productivity on this basis. The solar water heater service industry is main ly made up of the manufacturers and intermediary organizations engaged in solar water heaters. The intermed iary organizations are some organizat ions providing services and their cluster forms a service industry. The objects of the s olar water heater service industry are the users of solar water heaters. 3.2 Internal driving forces of the service industrialization of solar water heaters 3.2.1 Rapid development of the solar water heater industry Since late 1990s, the solar water heater industry in China has been developing rapidly. In late 2007, the annual output, stock and annual sales amount of the solar water heaters in China were 23,400,000m 2 , 108,000,000 m2 and RMB32 billion respectively. According to the midd le and long -term develop ment plan for renewable energy prepared by the NDRC, by the year of 2010, the total collector area of the solar water heaters in Ch ina will be 150 million square meters and, in addition to other solar energy utilizat ions, the annual amount of alternative energy will be 30,000,000t of standard coal; and by 2020, the aforesaid two data will be about 300 million square meters and 60,000,000t of standard coal respectively.
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3.2.2 Fierce competition of the solar water heater enterprises In nowadays with an increasing decentralizat ion of product technologies, no enterprise can own all the latest technologies necessary for the production of a kind of product for a long time. Moreover, with the development of the solar water heater industry, products are witnessing an increasingly obvious homogeneity. In this circu mstance, it is very hard for enterprises to have the initiat ive of co mpetition in hands with their own resources only, and most of them try their best to utilize external resources and create necessary conditions actively, so as to make their internal and external resources comp lement each other's advantages. With the increasing perfection of the state’s laws about renewable energy and the increasing improvement of the incentive policies about the develop ment of the renewab le energy industry, a lot of manufacturers have invested their funds into the R&D and production of solar energy products. Even some large-sized manufacturers in the home appliance industry or the electronic product industry have marched to the solar energy product market. These enterprises that have entered the solar energy product market depending on their o wn fund advantage and technology research and development advantage have largely intensified the competition of the market. Meanwh ile, these enterprises have also brought their original service modes and philosophies into the solar energy product industry and a service competition into the production field of solar energy products. 3.2.3 Demand for the resource integration between enterprises The competit ive market environment is putting forward a h igher and higher requirement for the service levels of enterprises. The actual situation of the solar water heater market makes it impossible for each solar water heater manufacturer to es tablish a perfect service industry in the broad market. The investment of huge funds will not always ensure a satisfying service for customers, wh ich is a great risk for manufacturers. A solar water heater service industry may be established so that the s ervice advantages of the leading solar water heater manufacturers and the public institutions providing services about solar water heaters can be integrated and the manufacturers with the core service co mpetency may form an alliance. The supervision and management by the industrial alliance can save the service costs of individual manufacturers and lo wer the risk that an enterprise inputs huge funds in service but fails to gain a high customer satisfaction. 3.3 External driving factors of the service industrialization of solar water heaters 3.3.1 Larger demand for product service With the implementation of the laws and regulations related to renewable energy, the development of the solar energy industry and the deepening of people’s understanding of solar water heaters, the demand in China, particularly in rural areas, is becoming increasingly larger. The demand for the service of solar water heaters is becoming increasingly larger. Most of families in the rural areas in China have not yet had access to hot bath. Solar water heaters can not only provide a hot bath condition for peasants in the construction of new countryside and improve the life quality of peasants but also save energy resources, protect environment and improve the liv ing conditions of peas ants. With the preparation and implementation of the plans about the construction of new countryside in different regions, solar water heaters will play a greater role in imp roving the life quality of hundreds of millions of peasants. With the expansion of the market of solar water heaters, the demand for the service of solar water heaters will become larger. 3.3.2 Demand for the effective distribution of social resources Solar water heater manufacturers, particularly the leading ones, establish their self-contained service networks which cross with one another in regard to the ranges and regions of service. If solar water heater
Li Xin and Liu Weiguo / Energy Procedia 5 (2011) 513–519
manufacturers expand their service time and ranges and commit a cutthroat competition without consideration of the service costs, it will reduce their own profitability and cause a waste of social resources. The establishment of the solar water heater service industry has made the service networks of the public institutions providing services about solar water heaters and that of th e solar water heater manufacturers form an integral whole. It avoids the cutthroat competition between the solar water heater manufacturers, brings the service process under supervision and control and fills in the gaps in regard to the service process and service regions of the solar water heater manufacturers and therefore benefits the improvement of the overall service quality of solar water heaters. 3.3.3 Great support of government policies The government attaches great importance to the development an d utilization of rural new energy and the improvement of the living environ ment in rural areas. The development and utilization of solar energy save energy and reduce the emission of harmfu l gases. The government shows great support to the development of the solar energy industry by setting the objectives of renewable energy development and deciding the emphases of the renewable energy work in rural areas. The development planning and financial support of the government have provided a great support for the market scale, technology research and development, fund support, consumer market expansion and some other aspects of the development of the solar energy industry, created a sound environment for the development, and promoted the formation of the complete industry chain of the solar energy industry, creating favorable conditions for the establishment of the solar water heater service industry. 3.3.4 The on-going industry chain of solar water heaters For solar water heaters, the technologies are increasingly mature; a market-oriented operation mode has already formed; a co mmercialized development has realized; and the industry chain integrating R&D, production, sales and service is more and mo re co mplete, wh ich shows a great demonstration effect for the industrialization development of other renewable energy. Viewed fro m the industrialization development of the ho me appliance industry, the electronic product industry and some other industries, the enterprises with high brand loyalty and apparent competition a dvantages are all with high service quality and a co mp lete service industry, so industrialization develop ment will surely pro mote service development. With the development of the solar energy industry, the solar energy product manufacturers will tend to gain a high customer satisfaction through perfect services. 4 Functions of the service industrialization of solar water heaters 4.1 Integrating service organizations to realize sharing of service resources In order to control its environment as much as possible, a single manufacturer will surely expand its internal boundary. It will result in a huge cost investment, place an insurmountable exit barrier for the strategic transfer of an enterprise and even make an enterprise have no way to back down and cause organization expansion and further excessive internal friction; and the expansion of the enterprise scale, the increase of the management layers and the increase of the coordination cost will make so me large sized enterprises have bureaucratic low efficiencies and slow decision markings and difficu lt to make quick responses to the constantly changing market. Solar energy product manufacturers are a huge organization system. The solar energy product service industry enables the manufacturers to integrate their original service organizations, adjust their own resource distributions and lower the comp lexity of management. The process will not result in o rganizat ion expansion, so it can avoid too large organizat ions and rigescent organizational structures, thus making enterprises maintain a flexible operation mechanism and keep pace with the rapidly developing technologies and market.
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4.2 Multi-win mechanism based on sharing of both benefits and risks In the solar water heater service industry, the suppliers and receivers of technology service are an integral whole connected through a benefit relation, and, in most circu mstances, they act following the law of market econo my. In the market economy, the ultimate goal of each market subject which is a “reasonable man” is to maximize its benefits. The solar water heater service industry is established in fu ll compliance with the develop ment requirement of market economy, connecting the benefits of d ifferent interest subjects in different links of the industry chain of s olar water heaters and changing the scattered and weak relation of different departments into a solid relation based on benefits. The solar water heater service industry enhances the overall function of the solar energy product service system, consolidates the equality of different interest subjects and defines the rights and obligations of different interest subjects. In the solar water heater service industry, specialized solar energy service p roviders provide product services and solar water heater manufacturers or distributors select service enterprises, thus decreasing the resource input in product service and lowering the risk that a solar water heater manufacturer invests huge funds but fails in providing services that may gain a high customer satisfa ction. 4.3 Linkage mechanism of cost saving and benefit and efficiency multip lication The core co mpetencies are the power and source for enterprises to maintain their advantages. It is emphasized that various resources and technologies are effectively obta ined, coordinated and allocated through the organic integration of organization capital and social cap ital and the development of advantages. Solar energy product manufacturers are facing an increasingly fierce co mpetition environment, and it is very difficult fo r a single solar energy product manufacturer to own a comprehensive resource advantage in it. If a manufacturer decentralizes its resources on different lin ks, it will surely cause a waste of resources and be unbeneficial to the rap id establishment of the co mpetition advantage of the manufacturer. A manufacturer may use an outsourcing mode, in other words, it may have its businesses not with its core co mpetitiveness outsourced to other professional service providers. As a result, on the one hand, the manufacturer may have its resources and strengths centralized in its field of expertise and form a technology advantage and a scale advantage in the field, thus making the best of resources and benefiting the establishment of its own core advantages; and one the other hand, the outsourcing enterprise can break through the limitation of its internal resources and cut down the time cost of establishment of core competitiveness. 4.4 Making service quality innovated constantly and exceed customer expectations Essentially, customer satisfaction shows a kind of psychological state of a customer. It orig inates from the comparison done by a customer between his or her feel toward a kind of p roduct and service provided by an enterprise and his or her own expectations. In other words, “satisfaction” is not an absolute concept but a relative one. The fo llo wing four factors will affect customer satisfaction: First, the features of the product and service. A customer will seek for a balance between different features of the service according to his or her evaluation on the service type and comment on the service; second, the emotions of the customer in the service process. Positive emotions will enhance the satisfaction of the customer toward the service, wh ile negative e motions will weaken the satisfaction; third, attribution of service failures. After remediation of service failures, co mpared with a controllable service failure, an uncontrollable service failure will have a higher customer satisfaction; and compared with a service failure by an enterprise, a service failure by a customer will have a higher customer satisfaction; and fourth, the perception toward equality o r fairness. A customer may judge whether or not he or she has
Li Xin and Liu Weiguo / Energy Procedia 5 (2011) 513–519
obtained a reasonable price, a quality service and a fair treat ment according to the treat ment in the service, the price, the money he or she has spent, the efforts he or she has made and some other aspects. A fair perception is the main aspect of the customer’s satisfaction evaluation toward a product or service. The establishment of the solar water heater service industry separates service products and tangible products and realizes specialized production. The specialized service enterprises of solar energy products use their funds and other resources to improve their service quality, reduce the prices of their services, and enhance customer satisfaction or even exceed customer expectations. 5. Conclusions With the booming of the solar water heater industry, the problems of the service of solar water heaters have distinctly emerged and seriously curbed the development of the solar water heater industry. These problems can be solved effectively by establishing a complete solar water heater service industry and integrating the advantages of the mutually independent service modes and service organizations. The establishment of the solar water heater service industry will significantly perfect and pro mote the development of solar water heaters. The solar water heater service industry has the followin g four functions: integrating service organizat ions to realize sharing of service resources; making enterprises share both benefits and risks; ensuring cost saving and benefit and efficiency mu ltiplication for enterprises; and making consumers or users gain a high service quality and a high customer satisfaction. Acknowledgements This project is based on the research grant of the research team of the research program titled Establishment and Develop ment of the Renewable Energy Service Industry (SZ200910017005) and Energy Efficiency Management Evaluation and Innovation (PHR201007136) in the Rural Areas in Beijing.
References [1] Robert H. Frank, Ben S. Bernanke. Principles of Microeconomics (Third Edition)[M]. T singhua University Press. 2007: 97217 [2] Yu Jianpu. Handbook of Solar Water Heating Systems[M]. Chemical Industry Press. 2009(in Chinese) [3] Shen Fei, Liang Chunxue. Analysis of Feasibility of Vigorously Supporting the Solar Energy Industry[J].Ecological Economy. 2006(11):105-107.(in Chinese) [4] Stefan Krauter. Solar Electric Power Generation—photovoltaic Energy systems[M]. China Machine Press.2008 [5] Yin Zhiqiang. Development of solar thermal systems in china[J]. Solar Energy Materials& Solar Cells, 2005:427-442 [6] B. Joseph Pine II, James H. Gilmore. Experience Economy[M]. Beijing: China Machine Press, 2004:77 [7] Zhang Shuyu. Study of Sanlian's Strategy to Service Promotion[D]. Shandong University.2007(in Chinese) [8] Eric Marinot, Renewables 2005 Global Status Report[R].2005 [9] International Energy Agency. World Energy Outlook[R].2005 [10] International Energy Agency. World Energy Outlook[R].2006 [11] National Energy Administration of National Development and Reform Commission, Energy Research Institute of National Development and Reform Commission. [12] Chinese Renewable Energy Industries Association. Report on the industrialization development of China Renewable Energy [R].2007. (in Chinese)
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Energy Procedia 5 (2011) 513–519
IACEED2010
Study on the Industrialization of Servicing of Solar Water Heaters LI Xina*, LIU Weiguo b a,b
Economic and Management College, Beijing Institute of Petrochemical Technology, P.R.China, 102617
Abstract With the booming of the solar water heater industry, the problems of the service of solar water heaters have distinctly emerged and seriously curbed the development of the solar water heater industry. These problems can be solved effectively by establishing a complete solar water heater service industry and integrating the advantages of the mutually independent service modes and service organizations. This paper first defines the study of the solar water heater service industry and then studies the driving factors and functions of the service industrialization of solar water heaters.
© 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of RIUDS. Key words: Solar water heater, service, service industrialization
1. Introducti on With the booming of the solar water heater industry, the problems of the service of solar water heaters have distinctly emerged and seriously curbed the development of the solar water heater industry. On the one hand, there are many solar product manufacturers, and these solar product manufacturers di ffer in the investment scales of fund, technology, service network construction, etc., resulting in different service quality as well as product market disorder, nonstandard installation, serious delay of after-sales service; and on the other hand, the mutually crossing and self-contained service networks of the manufacturers have caused an overall resource waste. Besides, government or public institutions have made huge investments in the construction of solar energy projects but small investments in the follow-up
*Corresponding author: T el:+86 13391706187 E-mail address:[email protected]
1876–6102 © 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. doi:10.1016/j.egypro.2011.03.089
514
Li Xin and Liu Weiguo / Energy Procedia 5 (2011) 513–519
management and service. As a result, timely and perfect maintenance is unavailable for the solar energy products in a lot of projects, making a lot of solar energy projects just some image projects and fail to realize the expected effects. These problems can be solved effect ively by establishing a co mplete solar water heater service industry and integrating the advantages of the mutually independent service modes and service organizations.1 2. Problems of the service of solar water heaters 2.1Contradiction in the distribution of service resources Firstly, viewed fro m single manufacturers, they keep inputting resources into production in a bid to enlarge their production scales, obtain a scale effect and improve their market shares. However, the resources owned by each manufacturer are limited. The more the resources the manufacturer inputs into one aspect, the less that into other aspects will be. As a result, most of manufacturers do not have enough resources to be input into service. The solar water heaters are more and more advanced and the industry scale is larger and larger, but the service level is relatively lower and lo wer. Secondly, viewed fro m the entire industry, each solar water heater manufacturer inputs some resources into its service an d has its own marketing and service network, and the service networks of solar water heater manufacturers have the basically same ranges and regions of service and provide services for their o wn products only, thus resulting in a waste of such sources as fund, manpower and t ime. Th irdly, to gain a better co mpetition advantage, each manufacturer t ries to enlarge its service range blindly, resulting in a cutthroat competition between manufacturers and some damages to the benefits of all manufacturers. 2.2 Lack of professional and talented service personnel In the solar water heater industry there are neither institutions engaged in trainings for the service personnel of solar water heaters nor qualificat ion certification systems for the said service personnel. Besides, there are no sciences or majors about solar energy in colleges and universities. The existing technicians of solar energy product manufacturers are almost transferred fro m other industries. As a result, in various human resources in a manufacturer, the operating and managing personnel take a very large proportion and the engineers and technicians are not enough. The emp loyees of the enterprises engaged in the sales and service of solar energy products have different quality. Even the service pers onnel of the different distributors or service providers of the same manufacturer have this phenomenon. An important factor of the solar energy industry is to train some professional and talented service personnel and implement. 2.3 Lack of standardized service standards Since 1991, so me standards about solar water heaters have been established, including two basic standards, four inspection standards, three product standards and one industrial standard. The standards and the inspection and certification systems of the solar water heater industry are becoming more and more perfect, but there are no corresponding national standards for the installation and other services of solar water heaters. As a result, there are no standards for measuring the installatio n and other services of the solar water heaters provided by enterprises. In this circu mstance, even if the product quality is ensured, the nonstandard installation or other services will result in easy accessory damages and shorter lives of products and easy occurrence of conflicts between enterprises and users.
Li Xin and Liu Weiguo / Energy Procedia 5 (2011) 513–519
Solar water heaters are actually so me semi-finished products, and they will not beco me real finished products until they are effectively installed. The services for solar water heaters should inclu de the technical train ings before sales, the customized ind ividualized design, product package and introduction to the basic maintenance methods of products in sales, and the product installation and maintenance after sales. At present, solar water heater manufacturers focus on after-sales service only and neglect the significance of the services before and in sales; they attach importance to passive services only and have deficient active services; and they provide popular services only and have no standardized and individualized services. 2.4 Lack of service guidance policies With the perfection of the law and regulat ion system and the incentive policies about renewable energy, the entire society has begun to develop and utilize renewable energy act ively, the solar energy industry has started to take a rapid development and a lot of large-sized solar water heater manufacturers have emerged. Ho wever, the lack of standardized laws and regulations of the state has resulted in a lo w market access to the solar water heater industry in the following aspect: The production of solar water heaters has a small equip ment investment, a low technical content and a flexible production scale. So me small -sized solar water heater manufacturers have deficient funds and cannot establish complete service networks or even cannot provide complete services, resulting in disorderly product services on the solar water heater market.The fundamental way to solve the service problems of solar water heaters is to realize service industrialization for solar water heaters. 3. Driving factors of the service industrialization of solar water heaters 3.1 Connotation of the service industrialization of solar water heaters The solar water heater service industry is defined in this paper as follows: As a kind of operating activity, the service of solar water heaters should be guided by the market; be benefited centered and form a production and operation service system integrating scientific research service, production service and sales service. It has the advantages of investment marketization, production specialization, product commercialization, management demutualizat ion, service socialization and large -scale development and forms a new social productivity on this basis. The solar water heater service industry is main ly made up of the manufacturers and intermediary organizations engaged in solar water heaters. The intermed iary organizations are some organizat ions providing services and their cluster forms a service industry. The objects of the s olar water heater service industry are the users of solar water heaters. 3.2 Internal driving forces of the service industrialization of solar water heaters 3.2.1 Rapid development of the solar water heater industry Since late 1990s, the solar water heater industry in China has been developing rapidly. In late 2007, the annual output, stock and annual sales amount of the solar water heaters in China were 23,400,000m 2 , 108,000,000 m2 and RMB32 billion respectively. According to the midd le and long -term develop ment plan for renewable energy prepared by the NDRC, by the year of 2010, the total collector area of the solar water heaters in Ch ina will be 150 million square meters and, in addition to other solar energy utilizat ions, the annual amount of alternative energy will be 30,000,000t of standard coal; and by 2020, the aforesaid two data will be about 300 million square meters and 60,000,000t of standard coal respectively.
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Li Xin and Liu Weiguo / Energy Procedia 5 (2011) 513–519
3.2.2 Fierce competition of the solar water heater enterprises In nowadays with an increasing decentralizat ion of product technologies, no enterprise can own all the latest technologies necessary for the production of a kind of product for a long time. Moreover, with the development of the solar water heater industry, products are witnessing an increasingly obvious homogeneity. In this circu mstance, it is very hard for enterprises to have the initiat ive of co mpetition in hands with their own resources only, and most of them try their best to utilize external resources and create necessary conditions actively, so as to make their internal and external resources comp lement each other's advantages. With the increasing perfection of the state’s laws about renewable energy and the increasing improvement of the incentive policies about the develop ment of the renewab le energy industry, a lot of manufacturers have invested their funds into the R&D and production of solar energy products. Even some large-sized manufacturers in the home appliance industry or the electronic product industry have marched to the solar energy product market. These enterprises that have entered the solar energy product market depending on their o wn fund advantage and technology research and development advantage have largely intensified the competition of the market. Meanwh ile, these enterprises have also brought their original service modes and philosophies into the solar energy product industry and a service competition into the production field of solar energy products. 3.2.3 Demand for the resource integration between enterprises The competit ive market environment is putting forward a h igher and higher requirement for the service levels of enterprises. The actual situation of the solar water heater market makes it impossible for each solar water heater manufacturer to es tablish a perfect service industry in the broad market. The investment of huge funds will not always ensure a satisfying service for customers, wh ich is a great risk for manufacturers. A solar water heater service industry may be established so that the s ervice advantages of the leading solar water heater manufacturers and the public institutions providing services about solar water heaters can be integrated and the manufacturers with the core service co mpetency may form an alliance. The supervision and management by the industrial alliance can save the service costs of individual manufacturers and lo wer the risk that an enterprise inputs huge funds in service but fails to gain a high customer satisfaction. 3.3 External driving factors of the service industrialization of solar water heaters 3.3.1 Larger demand for product service With the implementation of the laws and regulations related to renewable energy, the development of the solar energy industry and the deepening of people’s understanding of solar water heaters, the demand in China, particularly in rural areas, is becoming increasingly larger. The demand for the service of solar water heaters is becoming increasingly larger. Most of families in the rural areas in China have not yet had access to hot bath. Solar water heaters can not only provide a hot bath condition for peasants in the construction of new countryside and improve the life quality of peasants but also save energy resources, protect environment and improve the liv ing conditions of peas ants. With the preparation and implementation of the plans about the construction of new countryside in different regions, solar water heaters will play a greater role in imp roving the life quality of hundreds of millions of peasants. With the expansion of the market of solar water heaters, the demand for the service of solar water heaters will become larger. 3.3.2 Demand for the effective distribution of social resources Solar water heater manufacturers, particularly the leading ones, establish their self-contained service networks which cross with one another in regard to the ranges and regions of service. If solar water heater
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manufacturers expand their service time and ranges and commit a cutthroat competition without consideration of the service costs, it will reduce their own profitability and cause a waste of social resources. The establishment of the solar water heater service industry has made the service networks of the public institutions providing services about solar water heaters and that of th e solar water heater manufacturers form an integral whole. It avoids the cutthroat competition between the solar water heater manufacturers, brings the service process under supervision and control and fills in the gaps in regard to the service process and service regions of the solar water heater manufacturers and therefore benefits the improvement of the overall service quality of solar water heaters. 3.3.3 Great support of government policies The government attaches great importance to the development an d utilization of rural new energy and the improvement of the living environ ment in rural areas. The development and utilization of solar energy save energy and reduce the emission of harmfu l gases. The government shows great support to the development of the solar energy industry by setting the objectives of renewable energy development and deciding the emphases of the renewable energy work in rural areas. The development planning and financial support of the government have provided a great support for the market scale, technology research and development, fund support, consumer market expansion and some other aspects of the development of the solar energy industry, created a sound environment for the development, and promoted the formation of the complete industry chain of the solar energy industry, creating favorable conditions for the establishment of the solar water heater service industry. 3.3.4 The on-going industry chain of solar water heaters For solar water heaters, the technologies are increasingly mature; a market-oriented operation mode has already formed; a co mmercialized development has realized; and the industry chain integrating R&D, production, sales and service is more and mo re co mplete, wh ich shows a great demonstration effect for the industrialization development of other renewable energy. Viewed fro m the industrialization development of the ho me appliance industry, the electronic product industry and some other industries, the enterprises with high brand loyalty and apparent competition a dvantages are all with high service quality and a co mp lete service industry, so industrialization develop ment will surely pro mote service development. With the development of the solar energy industry, the solar energy product manufacturers will tend to gain a high customer satisfaction through perfect services. 4 Functions of the service industrialization of solar water heaters 4.1 Integrating service organizations to realize sharing of service resources In order to control its environment as much as possible, a single manufacturer will surely expand its internal boundary. It will result in a huge cost investment, place an insurmountable exit barrier for the strategic transfer of an enterprise and even make an enterprise have no way to back down and cause organization expansion and further excessive internal friction; and the expansion of the enterprise scale, the increase of the management layers and the increase of the coordination cost will make so me large sized enterprises have bureaucratic low efficiencies and slow decision markings and difficu lt to make quick responses to the constantly changing market. Solar energy product manufacturers are a huge organization system. The solar energy product service industry enables the manufacturers to integrate their original service organizations, adjust their own resource distributions and lower the comp lexity of management. The process will not result in o rganizat ion expansion, so it can avoid too large organizat ions and rigescent organizational structures, thus making enterprises maintain a flexible operation mechanism and keep pace with the rapidly developing technologies and market.
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4.2 Multi-win mechanism based on sharing of both benefits and risks In the solar water heater service industry, the suppliers and receivers of technology service are an integral whole connected through a benefit relation, and, in most circu mstances, they act following the law of market econo my. In the market economy, the ultimate goal of each market subject which is a “reasonable man” is to maximize its benefits. The solar water heater service industry is established in fu ll compliance with the develop ment requirement of market economy, connecting the benefits of d ifferent interest subjects in different links of the industry chain of s olar water heaters and changing the scattered and weak relation of different departments into a solid relation based on benefits. The solar water heater service industry enhances the overall function of the solar energy product service system, consolidates the equality of different interest subjects and defines the rights and obligations of different interest subjects. In the solar water heater service industry, specialized solar energy service p roviders provide product services and solar water heater manufacturers or distributors select service enterprises, thus decreasing the resource input in product service and lowering the risk that a solar water heater manufacturer invests huge funds but fails in providing services that may gain a high customer satisfa ction. 4.3 Linkage mechanism of cost saving and benefit and efficiency multip lication The core co mpetencies are the power and source for enterprises to maintain their advantages. It is emphasized that various resources and technologies are effectively obta ined, coordinated and allocated through the organic integration of organization capital and social cap ital and the development of advantages. Solar energy product manufacturers are facing an increasingly fierce co mpetition environment, and it is very difficult fo r a single solar energy product manufacturer to own a comprehensive resource advantage in it. If a manufacturer decentralizes its resources on different lin ks, it will surely cause a waste of resources and be unbeneficial to the rap id establishment of the co mpetition advantage of the manufacturer. A manufacturer may use an outsourcing mode, in other words, it may have its businesses not with its core co mpetitiveness outsourced to other professional service providers. As a result, on the one hand, the manufacturer may have its resources and strengths centralized in its field of expertise and form a technology advantage and a scale advantage in the field, thus making the best of resources and benefiting the establishment of its own core advantages; and one the other hand, the outsourcing enterprise can break through the limitation of its internal resources and cut down the time cost of establishment of core competitiveness. 4.4 Making service quality innovated constantly and exceed customer expectations Essentially, customer satisfaction shows a kind of psychological state of a customer. It orig inates from the comparison done by a customer between his or her feel toward a kind of p roduct and service provided by an enterprise and his or her own expectations. In other words, “satisfaction” is not an absolute concept but a relative one. The fo llo wing four factors will affect customer satisfaction: First, the features of the product and service. A customer will seek for a balance between different features of the service according to his or her evaluation on the service type and comment on the service; second, the emotions of the customer in the service process. Positive emotions will enhance the satisfaction of the customer toward the service, wh ile negative e motions will weaken the satisfaction; third, attribution of service failures. After remediation of service failures, co mpared with a controllable service failure, an uncontrollable service failure will have a higher customer satisfaction; and compared with a service failure by an enterprise, a service failure by a customer will have a higher customer satisfaction; and fourth, the perception toward equality o r fairness. A customer may judge whether or not he or she has
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obtained a reasonable price, a quality service and a fair treat ment according to the treat ment in the service, the price, the money he or she has spent, the efforts he or she has made and some other aspects. A fair perception is the main aspect of the customer’s satisfaction evaluation toward a product or service. The establishment of the solar water heater service industry separates service products and tangible products and realizes specialized production. The specialized service enterprises of solar energy products use their funds and other resources to improve their service quality, reduce the prices of their services, and enhance customer satisfaction or even exceed customer expectations. 5. Conclusions With the booming of the solar water heater industry, the problems of the service of solar water heaters have distinctly emerged and seriously curbed the development of the solar water heater industry. These problems can be solved effectively by establishing a complete solar water heater service industry and integrating the advantages of the mutually independent service modes and service organizations. The establishment of the solar water heater service industry will significantly perfect and pro mote the development of solar water heaters. The solar water heater service industry has the followin g four functions: integrating service organizat ions to realize sharing of service resources; making enterprises share both benefits and risks; ensuring cost saving and benefit and efficiency mu ltiplication for enterprises; and making consumers or users gain a high service quality and a high customer satisfaction. Acknowledgements This project is based on the research grant of the research team of the research program titled Establishment and Develop ment of the Renewable Energy Service Industry (SZ200910017005) and Energy Efficiency Management Evaluation and Innovation (PHR201007136) in the Rural Areas in Beijing.
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